Blaine Earl Saunders passed away on Jan. 27, 2008, in Plains, Mont. He leaves behind his wife Francis of Plains. We will miss our beloved father, brother and husband.

Blaine was born in Collinston, Utah, on Oct. 25, 1925, to Earl I. Saunders and Wilhemina Elizabeth Erickson, and lived there until he joined the Navy at age 17. He worked as an electrician’s mate and was very proud to be able to serve his country during WWII.

After the was over, he got out of the Navy, went home and married Marilyn Hardy in 1949. At that time in history, there was an opportunity for people to get a piece of land in Alaska. All you had to do was “homestead,” build a cabin, and live on the land for one year and it was yours. Blaine took that opportunity and in the early 1950s, he secured 150 acres of land on Alaska’s Kenai Peninsula, in Sterling/Soldtona area.

He lived there until 1963 and then on his way to Australia, via stopover in Collinston, Utah, he met and married Gloria Durfey, also taking on her five children whom he later adopted. Blaine and Gloria had one son together. They all moved back to the homestead in Alaska and were there from 1964 to 1970.

He then decided to move to the lower “48” to get away from the cold winters and settled in Union, Ore., until moving to Oak Harbor in 1970. Oak Harbor was his home until 1996 when he moved to Plains.

Blaine was a very industrious and skilled person, always eager to learn and experience new things. While in Alaska, he helped blaze trails for the road building crew so oil companies could get to the oil fields, and then later worked for Standard Oil Company as a mechanic.

He went to college to become a gunsmith and a locksmith and he used that talent throughout his life.

He was an avid hunter, fisherman and boater. He loved his black Labradors and pheasants. With his love of the outdoors, in his later years, he took up oil painting and photography. He entered a contest and was able to have some of his photographs published.

He got his private pilot’s license and was able to purchase a Super Cub and a Cessna 185 airplane that he loved flying off his private landing field out of Oak Harbor.

He was a master craftsman, general contractor and land developer. He knew how to build a good, solid home from the bottom up, and built many of them in Union and Oak Harbor with the help of his wife and children, who worked on the construction sites side-by-side.

He is survived by his wife Francis of Plains, Mont.; two sisters, Ardis Packer of Manti, Utah, and Bernice Brown of Clearfield, Utah. He was preceded in death by his brother, Theron.

He leaves his children Christy (Ken) Jones of Hooper, Utah, Michael Blaine Saunders (Autumn) of Oak Harbor, Thad Durfey Saunders (Toni) of Yuba City, Calif.; his adopted children Bruce Durfey Sanders (Laura) of Lewiston, Idaho, Galane Socha (Richard) of Oak Harbor, Spencer Durfey Saunders (Lyn) of Oak Harbor, Madeline Biekert (Kevin) of Oak Harbor and stepson Wilford Jerrel Kidman (Susan) of Plymouth, Utah. He also leaves 31 grandchildren and 31 great-grandchildren.

There will be a Memorial Service held at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints on O’Leary Street in Oak Harbor at 2 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 9.